Texting- Sex Education

“When Cellphone teaches sex education” Jan Hoffman

It only makes sense that in our day and age kids are able to reach out for advice via texting. My first impression is that it seems a little impersonal, and perhaps it is, but it seems I need to reconsider what I mean by impersonal to begin with. The reality is that some kids don’t feel comfortable enough going to an adult for advice, especially when it comes to sex. If we think about it, this can have the most impersonal results of all, and that is no human connection is made. Unfortunately, there are often devastating effects when teenagers are not correctly advised on the consequences of being sexually active. In fact, this is precisely the cause of high teenage pregnancy rates and the spread of STD’s among teenagers around the country.

North Carolina is setting a great example in sex education, and as Hoffman (Director of a texting sex ed program in North Carolina calls it being “culturally appropriate” when it comes to providing an outlet that gives kids “ crucial and private information”. I think texting sex education has many benefits, in my opinion one of the most important is the privacy it provides its users. Teenagers would seem more likely to ask for advice if the shame, and embarrassment is eliminated from asking to begin with.

Anonymity gives a teenager struggling to ask questions about sex the freedom to be more honest, ask questions and express concerns that even adults have a hard time with. “Technology reduces the shame and embarrassment,” said Deb Levine, (Executive Director of Sex Ed texting program in North Carolina).
On the other hand there is a great challenge, and limitation to these new forms of communication present us with. We are now required to express ourselves with a fraction of the language we are normally accustomed to. We need to be brief, concise and robotic like in our answers, something that can be difficult to someone trying to inform a scared girl what to do when she has just found out she is pregnant. In fact, twitter gives you only one hundred and forty characters to send a message out and, although texting does not, our phone keyboards and small screens certainly do. Clearly texting for sex ed is a brief and limited way to get information, but it is a great reference point that hopefully leads that confused kid to "real" help and attention if needed, “They are great for referrals and short answers to quick questions” Miss Swatson (a texter at a North Carolina center states”. With this, the first step to educate and inform teenagers about sex has been taken, and that is getting a teenager to ask questions ideally from an adult with qualified information . Specifically an adult who will not take things personal, or shut down when their child communicates with them. Sex education outside the home is great in this sense, because it provides information regardless of age or sexual activity the teenager is involved in. Some teenagers will engage in sexually activity regardless of a parent’s believe, and sex education only gives them a chance to be in control of their health.

Perhaps, the most important sentiment behind this form of reaching to teenagers is, that the community needs to do whatever is necessary to get the information out there. “I think communicating with teens in whatever way they need to ask a question is important.” responds Ms Swatson to a young texter. If texting is a way to help by providing referrals or short concise information then we should support it. Clearly ignoring the topic of sex has not prevented teenagers from engaging in sexual activity, and promoting abstinence in my opinion is ignoring the sad statistics of rising teenage pregnancy rates and the spread of STDs.